# Stuff that took you too long to realize **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 5, 2012, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506 "2012-08-05T09:37:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/281 "2012-09-04T12:01:38Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > Hmm masking tape is supposed to be removable? Yes, that’s why it’s called \*masking \*tape. It was originally intended for masking off areas that aren’t meant to get paint on them, and removal after painting was complete. Which may in itself be a thing that took me too long to realize, along with realizing that gloveboxes are called that because they were meant to store gloves - specifically, driving gloves. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/282 "2012-09-04T13:00:22Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I hate to say it, but this is pretty much how I’ve felt for over 10 years. Marriage is not always sugerpops and laughter. I think there is much more negativity about marriage than there is positivity in society, so I always hate to see marriage bashed. But still, I’m sorry it wasn’t a positive experience for you. I’ve seen many marriages fall apart (like all four of my mother’s) so I do know that it can be really awful when it goes wrong. So I guess my own divine revelation is that your partner isn’t there to save you. Support you, yes… but in any healthy relationship, you’ve got to save yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Luk3112](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a9adbd/32.png) [@Luk3112](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Luk3112)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/283 "2012-09-04T13:28:55Z")
Our governors do not give a shit about our interests. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/284 "2012-09-04T16:42:16Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > I think there is much more negativity about marriage than there is positivity in society, so I always hate to see marriage bashed. But still, I’m sorry it wasn’t a positive experience for you. I’ve seen many marriages fall apart (like all four of my mother’s) so I do know that it can be really awful when it goes wrong. > > So I guess my own divine revelation is that your partner isn’t there to save you. Support you, yes… but in any healthy relationship, you’ve got to save yourself. It’s come to my attention lately that a lot of what we think of as commonly-held beliefs about marriage are held by people in bad marriages. Being married long-term shouldn’t be a bad thing; if it’s a bad thing, something’s not right, and it would be a good idea to look into fixing it, not just throwing your hands up and saying, “Oh well. That’s what happens when you’re married for a while.” ---
**Author:** ![perfectparanoia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a5b964/32.png) [@perfectparanoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/perfectparanoia)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/285 "2012-09-04T16:48:18Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > I think there is much more negativity about marriage than there is positivity in society, so I always hate to see marriage bashed. But still, I’m sorry it wasn’t a positive experience for you. I’ve seen many marriages fall apart (like all four of my mother’s) so I do know that it can be really awful when it goes wrong. > > So I guess my own divine revelation is that your partner isn’t there to save you. Support you, yes… but in any healthy relationship, you’ve got to save yourself. I am pretty sure I recall that Leaffan is still married? Anyway, just because marriage isn’t all fun, doesn’t mean that it’s not worth it. Sometimes my husband drives me nuts. Sometimes I drive him nuts. But what we get out of the marriage is totally worth it all. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/286 "2012-09-04T16:58:43Z")
> [@perfectparanoia](#): > > I am pretty sure I recall that Leaffan is still married? > > Anyway, just because marriage isn’t all fun, doesn’t mean that it’s not worth it. Sometimes my husband drives me nuts. Sometimes I drive him nuts. But what we get out of the marriage is totally worth it all. Of course. But I think what **Leaffan** is talking about goes way beyond normal healthy marital grievances. There’s a big difference between, ‘‘He drives me nuts but I love him,’’ and ‘‘Marriage is nothing more than a social institution where my happiness doesn’t matter.’’ That is some deep-level unfulfillment right there. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/287 "2012-09-04T17:06:08Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > It’s come to my attention lately that a lot of what we think of as commonly-held beliefs about marriage are held by people in bad marriages. Being married long-term shouldn’t be a bad thing; if it’s a bad thing, something’s not right, and it would be a good idea to look into fixing it, not just throwing your hands up and saying, “Oh well. That’s what happens when you’re married for a while.” It’s not worth fixing. I don’t want to fix it. The kids are my priority. In 5 years or less we’ll be separated. Hey, you win some, you lose some. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/288 "2012-09-04T17:47:59Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > Of course. But I think what **Leaffan** is talking about goes way beyond normal healthy marital grievances. There’s a big difference between, ‘‘He drives me nuts but I love him,’’ and ‘‘Marriage is nothing more than a social institution where my happiness doesn’t matter.’’ That is some deep-level unfulfillment right there. There’s also difference between marrying because you’ve found the right person and actually want to get married, and marrying out of some misplaced notion of obligation or some other thing. Discontent with the institution will likely be higher if you never really wanted participate in it in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/289 "2012-09-05T02:08:06Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > To **AaronX** : > > You’re supposed to remove it after a few hours, days at most. How well it comes off depends on the quality of the tape but also on the surface: a porous surface will be more likely to keep some of the glue. But it doesn’t last too long on the roll either, does it? I have a few old rolls and they stick too strongly/weakly. ---
**Author:** ![listedmia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e0b2c6/32.png) [@listedmia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/listedmia)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/290 "2012-09-05T03:56:40Z")
It took me a long time to realize “marital” and “martial” were two different words. Like, late teens. I also did not make the connection between the Elmer’s Glue mascot and the fact that glues used to be made from rendered animal hooves until a year ago, when I saw a rerun of a Simpsons episode (“You won’t eat my meat, but you glue with my feet”) I took a really long time, as a kid, to be able to remember which side was right and which side was left. “Which hand do you write with?” was useless, because I simply couldn’t remember unless I was actively writing something at the moment. I took ice-skating lessons for a while, and when the instructor told us to do something with our left foot, I’d have to look at a sign on the wall, and I’d remember that the side where the words started was the left side. Moving onto someone else’s problems, I took a high school class with a girl of otherwise normal intelligence who could not tell time. This was in approximately 2006. She would always be asking what time it was when there was a clock on the wall right there. She admitted that she was always around digital clocks and never bothered to learn. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/291 "2012-09-05T12:36:43Z")
> [@listedmia](#): > > It took me a long time to realize “marital” and “martial” were two different words. Many a commentator has pointed out the natural relationship between the two words. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/292 "2012-09-05T13:12:05Z")
Hold your hands out in front of you with the index fingers up and the thumbs out at a right angle. The hand that makes an “L” is your left hand. Learned that in my 30’s. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/293 "2012-09-05T13:42:14Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > But it doesn’t last too long on the roll either, does it? I have a few old rolls and they stick too strongly/weakly. I’ve had rolls which survived several years and a couple of moves, but they were a good brand and I am careful about how I transport and store chemicals (including adhesives on tape). Any roll of adhesive tape left in Middlebro’s toolbox turns to gunk in a couple of months tops (although 3M still manages to last longer than other brands)\*, comparing two rolls bought as a pair but left in my hands or his can be quite amazing. - not a 3m shill, just a satisfied customer. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/294 "2012-09-05T16:07:03Z")
> [@corkboard](#): > > How does “Fido” translate into “faithful”? > [@divemaster](#): > > “Fido” derives from the Latin _fidelis_. Meaning “faithful.” > > Semper Fi > fidelity > Fido > > etc. To further elucidate, the first-person conjugation in Latin is the -O suffix (“Amo, Amas, Amat” = “I love/am loving,” “He/she loves,” “They love.”) Therefore “Fido” literally means “I am faithful.” ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/295 "2012-09-05T16:43:15Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Which may in itself be a thing that took me too long to realize, along with realizing that gloveboxes are called that because they were meant to store gloves - specifically, driving gloves. :smack: A blissfully unaware friend of a friend called them glove departments. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/296 "2012-09-05T17:10:24Z")
> [@Reeses\_Monkey](#): > > Hold your hands out in front of you with the index fingers up and the thumbs out at a right angle. The hand that makes an “L” is your left hand. > > Learned that in my 30’s. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/297 "2012-09-05T19:35:57Z")
I think I was in high school when I found out the spicy sauce often put on tacos is tobasco sauce, not tobacco sauce. There was also a point in my life where I thought Doogie Howser was a real person. I guess Neil Patrick Harris is just _that_ good an actor. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/298 "2012-09-05T20:20:50Z")
> [@Reeses\_Monkey](#): > > Hold your hands out in front of you with the index fingers up and the thumbs out at a right angle. The hand that makes an “L” is your left hand. > > Learned that in my 30’s. “They both make an L!” - a friend of mine ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/299 "2012-09-06T17:27:30Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > A blissfully unaware friend of a friend called them glove departments. 'Round these here parts, that’s what we call them. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/300 "2012-09-06T17:50:28Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > To further elucidate, the first-person conjugation in Latin is the -O suffix (“Amo, Amas, Amat” = “I love/am loving,” “He/she loves,” “They love.”) > > Therefore “Fido” literally means “I am faithful.” _Amo, amas, amat_ = “I love, thou lovest, he/she/it loves”. But you knew that really. Accidence will happen. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506.md?page=16)